CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — It’s 10:00 am at WHO Newsradio in Des Moines, Iowa, and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul begins in its studio a long day of political campaigning in this Midwestern US state.

With huge earphones covering his ears, he keeps describing the economic situation in the United Stated States in dark, pessimistic colors.

“Things look bad,” he says on Friday morning, arguing that federal spending must be reduced at all cost.

On the other side of the glass studio, his campaign manager, Jesse Benton, nervously prepares messages on his mobile phone.

“We’re growing and building support,” Benton tells AFP.

After campaigning in the shadow of other candidates, Paul caught second wind in recent days in Iowa, a crucial state in the nomination contest.